Hey man, thanks for replies. I'm trying to find Tulsi here- unfortunately it seems like Beijing doesn't have any, the climate is antithetical to it growing here, or something. That's really great about you and exercise. I used to exercise a lot and I guess I was never depressed but, I sure was anxious. Beijing is kind of like a nightmare for that. It's confined, polluted, people bumping up against one another and no free space. Exercise is a tall order here.

I don't have enough sex, although I imagine it would lower anxiety, considerably.
I find that having & (applying) a modicum of wisdom helps me to function; looking at where I'm fighting it against my favor, what I need to accept - to make my life easier, etc. This helps my stress and anxiety go down - and it also helps me feel more normal, in general...it's very hard humbling yourself, but it's necessary if you want to correct or learn.
If you drop out from life, do not be surprised when it drops out from you or you don't feel part of it.

Eric, I can't help you with your depression, but I can offer some evidence I found out for myself and that is juice fasting.

I use to eat a lot of American junk food and these foods, while tasting good, always made me somewhat depressed after. When I was juice fasting, my mood improved within 5 minutes of me consuming green juice.

That is when I realized that our biological bodies is made to react to chemicals and the healthy veggies and fruits directly improved my mood. Another words, the type of energy I was putting into my body, is what effected my mood. If your depressed, I would just take 5 minutes of your time to consider are you putting any foods in your mouth that we consider unhealthy and how that will effect your mood.

You can exercise indoors. Knock off 50 quick standard pushups, then 50 quick one legged squats per leg, then another set of 50 Hindu pushups, 50 squat jumps, 15 one armed pushups per side, 15 cossack squats per side. Add 15 pullups (palms away from body) and 15 chinups (palms toward body) of you have a doorway pullup bar. Do all this very quickly so your heart rate stays elevated and you will get a great workout in 15 minutes. Follow with 10 minutes yoga stretches, headstand, etc. Then 5 minutes of kegel exercise while sitting in lotus position. Whole thing in less than 30 minutes.

People at work always say that I'm angry, and have trouble controlling my facial responses/anger in responses to situations, that I visibly show it. I think this is the state of someone at the end, who is bursting at the seams. Obviously no one wants to do this.

I believe I have had the same problem as you. I used to feel depressed a lot, bored in school, angry/irritable, not smiling, not laughing, grimacing, not being able to make fun of myself, feeling low self-esteem, letting things get to me, being overly emotional, becoming very angry very easily, low tolerance, very judgmental, impatient, grumpy, low ability to persevere toward goals, easily stressed out, low energy, inability to recover from workouts, low appetite, feverish after eating, suicidal thoughts, thinking that life is maybe not worth living, etc.

Over many years, I have experienced small periods of time where I felt healthier than usual: feeling more peaceful, calm, happy, joyful, appreciative, patient, smiling easily, enjoying things I used to not enjoy, feeling motivated, feeling that "life is magical," less anxious, more trusting, less paranoid, more positive, etc.

I believe I have solved the problem, or pretty much almost solved it. I believe the problem has to do with some sort of allergic reaction that is happening when you eat a certain food, or foods.

I believe what is happening is, the body's immune system is attacking the food that you are eating. This is probably made possible through a condition known as "leaky gut."

Leaky gut is when the intestine absorbs more than it is supposed to. It allows food to pass through the gut wall when the food isn't fully digested yet. Dead bacteria and other things may be absorbed through the gut wall also when they otherwise wouldn't, if the gut were healthy.

The theory is that, your (and my) intestine is leaky, and so over time, our body has developed an allergy to the food we have been eating. Probably not all the foods, but maybe several.

Common food allergens are eggs, peanuts, wheat, corn, soy, etc...but any food can be allergenic.

So, when you eat eggs, for example, the egg protein triggers the immune system when it passes either near the intestinal wall, or passes through it. When this happens, there is an inflammatory response.

This inflammatory response may be hard to feel. Maybe you don't feel any obvious symptoms. I used to not be aware of any physical symptoms. But now I am aware that my head feels warmer than usual, and I may have a headache. The mental symptoms I experience are much more obvious than the physical. I become depressed, anxious, irritable, fantasize about killing people if they abuse me, etc.

The inflammatory response temporarily alters the brain, which alters the physiology of the adrenals, so that more adrenaline and cortisol are pumped into the blood. So you feel anxious, nervous, on edge, feel that the world is dangerous, etc. Your emotions are out of whack. I read somewhere that this is called HPA-axis dysregulation. Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal.

So, in order to prevent this, you have to completely avoid the foods that you are allergic to. I believe that the person who posted above about juice fasting happened to avoid the foods he is allergic to by only drinking juice. That happens to me too. I noticed when I only drink juice, I feel way healthier.

You must avoid the allergen foods for 4-7 days to make sure that they are cleared out from your body, because they may trigger inflammation anywhere from immediately after you eat them, to 7 days after, probably.

What you should do is eat only sweet potatoes and water for a week, and see if you feel better. Or, you could just fast, by drinking only water, or you could juice feast. Sweet potatoes have pretty much all the nutrition a person needs though, and have very little protein, so they are likely to not elicit an immune response, because I believe the protein is what triggers the immune system.

If you feel well after eating only sweet potatoes, then just add in one new food every two days or so. If you feel good after eating only sweet potatoes, and then add in peanuts, for example, and if you feel lousy, then that means the peanuts are causing an allergic reaction, so you should just avoid them.

I have done this over many years now, and I have repeatedly had adverse reactions to wheat, corn (and corn-based ingredients such as maltodextrin, carrageenan, corn syrup, ascorbic acid, citric acid, etc.), peanuts, walnuts, and seemingly all high-fat foods.

I read that fat itself is toxic to the intestinal wall, so a very low-fat diet should be eaten to maximize your chances of success. And this seems to corroborate my experience; when I eat high-fat foods, I seem to always fall ill.

So, the intestinal wall has somehow become leaky. In addition to eating a low-fat diet, there are other things that can be done.

I have heard that the intestine naturally has a healthy layer of mucus which is maintained by bacteria. This wall of mucous is health-promoting; it allows the intestine to operate how it's supposed to.

But there are ways that our intestinal bacteria get killed off. Drinking chlorinated tap water kills bacteria, due to the chlorine which is present in it in order to kill the bad bacteria in the water. Antibiotic medication kills bacteria. Glyphosate, the pesticide that is used to dry out grains and legumes just prior to harvest, is a patented antibiotic. And the food we eat today is sanitized so that all the good bacteria that is on the surface of the produce and in the dirt is washed off.

The thing that feeds good bacteria is fiber. If you eat a wide variety of whole plant foods, you will develop a diverse population of good bacteria in your gut. Also, if you eat food directly from the garden without washing it, and if you get the soil on your skin and in your body, maybe through merely breathing the air outside in the garden. Also, if you have animals, the bacteria they harbor is probably one of the reasons why people report feeling less anxious, depressed, etc. if they have pets.

Also, you can eat good bacteria, by eating fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut, etc. They say that the bacteria is killed in the stomach acid though...but someone said that even though they are killed in the stomach acid, somehow the dead bacteria are health-promoting nevertheless.

I also think that being physically intimate with people (through sexual activities), you acquire the bacteria of the other person. They say that the more diverse your bacterial population, the better. People also have tried fecal transplants, where they implant another's fecal contents into themselves.

Someone said that caffeine is an intestinal irritant. Also, refined sugar and maybe refined grains and processed foods such as potato chips may feed yeast which resides within the intestine, and they say that this "candida" yeast latches onto the intestinal wall and damages it. So, I would avoid soda, processed foods, refined grains, bread, etc.

Also, I would try to eat a low-glycemic diet as much as possible. So, I would not eat white potatoes, white rice, fruit juice, large amounts of watermelon, pineapple, dates, etc. This is because sugar dysregulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for keeping a person "resting and digesting" so you feel on edge and in a "fight or flight" mode. I would eat beans and greens primarily, to maintain a low-glycemic load, so you feel calmer and more balanced and stable.

Also, if you are under a lot of stress, that is bad for the intestine, because apparently the used cortisol is dumped into the intestine, and then damages it.

I hope this helps. Whomever is reading this, if this helps you, then please respond and update us with your results!

I believe many people have this problem, but are totally unaware of it, or at least that it has to do with their food. I think they buy into the idea that "there is something wrong with them" that they cannot do anything about, except take some kind of medication. Many people are on psychiatric medication in the U.S.A. Many people are on caffeine. And alcohol. And weed. I believe people are seeking out these substances because they are depressed and anxious because their bacteria has been killed off due to eating so much glyphosate over the years, and eating a low-fiber diet which starves the good bacteria, and also they eat a high amount of candida-feeding sugar and refined foods, and they never garden or eat freshly-harvested fruits and vegetables, and not that many people eat organic.

Also, they say that glyphosate is a mineral chelator, which means that it attracts minerals to it, so it prevents minerals from being absorbed. That, combined with the apparent fact that non-organic foods are mineral-deficient due to being grown in nutrient-depleted soil, may explain men's low testosterone levels (low zinc maybe).

Also, I have heard that fasting grows a type of good bacteria in the gut, so it may be beneficial to fast in the morning, or at least do not eat anything from dinner until breakfast.

And you should also chew your food thoroughly and do not eat when you are stressed out, because there is intestine-protecting chemistry in the saliva, and if your food is properly digested, then there is a lower chance of an under-digested molecule of food reaching your intestine and then maybe causing an immune response due to the immune system not recognizing it.

Also, they say that gluten is bad for the intestine because it signals the gut to become leaky directly, by signaling zonulin. So I would be especially suspicious of gluten-containing foods.

I would also totally avoid GMO foods, as they are built to withstand any amount of glyphosate application, so I am assuming that they are sprayed with an insane amount of pesticides. But remember, all non-organic grains and legumes are sprayed just prior to harvest. And some organic foods, such as lentils, garbanzo beans, and wheat, were tested and they were found to have significant levels of glyphosate. So, the priority is to eat grains and legumes that are organic, but avoid organic lentils, garbanzo beans, and wheat. Every other food, if not GMO, you know doesn't have glyphosate, because glyphosate is the main ingredient in Round Up, and Round Up kills plants.

Also, if you have skin problems, such as small red dots or pimples, on your back for example (like I had) it is apparently due to what is leaking through the gut into the bloodstream coming out of the skin. It is coming through the skin, because it has nowhere to go. Also, if people complain that you have a bad body odor, even if you shower every day, I am very sure that the odor is caused by the skin outputting unusable substances through it.

And they say that 95% of the serotonin in the body is made by bacteria in the gut. So if you don't have enough bacteria, you can't produce enough serotonin, the happiness neurotransmitter. They say that serotonin increases when you are socially dominant, but if you are socially low on the totem pole, then you have lower serotonin, and experience anxiety and nervousness, as though the environment is dangerous, when it actually objectively is not. Maybe people's anxiety is increasing simply due to their bacteria being killed off.

This sounds very sad. Sorry to hear that you guys are experiencing depression and anxiety. Managing anxiety can be a process of trial and error, experimenting with different techniques and find what works for you. You can find more info on the ways to fight anxiety on Canadian Pharmacy website